Monday, September 21, 2009

Please continue to you cast your votes in the post below! I will end the vote as of THIS Friday (the 25th), so if you have an opinion on the matter be sure to vote in time! Until then enjoy this ruff bit of experimental animation I did for my short film. Often when I have a design getting "close" to what I want it to FEEL like, I take it for a "test drive" which always reveals a lot of it's successes and flaws. In this particular case I animated this to ultimately be used for an eventual color test as well. I animated this in about a day, and in a fairly more ruff way than I typically do. Obviously the end is just posed out, however I do intend to finish it. Also, the beard and floppy bits of hair will be animated in After Effects once the ruff animation is complete. So, no, it won't look like a bit moppy beard in the final product. So enjoy this ruff rascal--

Friday, September 18, 2009

So from time to time I get e-mails and comments asking about continuing tutorials on this blog. While I would love to be able to continue to do the same volume of tutorials that i once did, I have to be realistic with myself. When I started this blog my time was much more free and open, now, not so much as I am sure all of you have noticed.

But, the initial purpose of this blog was to spread information that I have learned from either people I respect, or just figuring the stuff out so that others could have the same access to, specifically, 2D knowledge. I would love to strike a compromise, so here's the plan. Right now I am on some downtime, waiting for my next job to start and I'd love to do a simple tutorial. So I am going inquire for your vote as to what that tutorial will be about. here are some options:

- Arcs

- Overlap/Follow Through

- Spacing

- How to Turn stuff

- Timing

- Posing and interesting Breakdowns

Just a few to suggest-- but do me a favor and place your vote in the comments section, I'll tally the votes and consider how much time I have to devote to the tutorial and then go from there. Sound good?

Thursday, September 10, 2009

I have to plug this new, GREAT blog by Jamaal Bradley (animator on "Surf's Up") called Pencil Test Depot. The idea of the blog is to gather an assortment of ONLY rough pencil tests from a variety of hand drawn animators. It's the only blog of it's kind to my knowledge that is devoted to cataloging pencil tests! So cool! Jamaal honored me with an invitation to put add some of my work, but the real reason you should go there is to see all the other incredible work from the likes of Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, Glen Keane, Sergio Pablos, James Baxter and Pablo Navarro! I am sure as time goes on the catalog will grow and the amount of amazing reference will become staggering! So check out this wonderful new resource for animators of ALL types!

Sunday, September 06, 2009

I went to the Skeet Range with my brother while he was in town this past week. Say some pretty hilarious people while I was there. This is Ling Ling-- from the moment she walked out onto the range she had this humongous smile on her face. It only melted off when she decided to kick some Skeet Shooting Butt! This girl hit everything man, EVERYTHING! And that's saying something for someone who's gun is bigger than they are! All in all, a pretty entertaining thing to behold...